Making initial checks

Before you start problem determination in detail, consider whether there is an obvious cause of the problem, or an area of investigation that is likely to give useful results. This approach to diagnosis can often save a lot of work by highlighting a simple error, or by narrowing down the range of possibilities.

About this task

This section contains a list of questions to consider. As you go through the list, make a note of anything that might be relevant to the problem. Even if your observations do not suggest a cause straight away, they might be useful later if you have to carry out a systematic problem determination exercise.

• Did you log off Windows while IBM Integration Bus components were active?
• Are the Linux and UNIX environment variables set correctly?
• Are there any error messages or return codes that explain the problem?
• Can you reproduce the problem?
• Has the message flow run successfully before?
• Have you made any changes since the last successful run?
• Is there a problem with descriptive text for a command?
• Is there a problem with a database?
• Is there a problem with the network?
• Does the problem affect all users?
• Have you recently changed a password?
• Have you applied any service updates?
• Do you have a component that is running slowly?
• Why is the web administration interface not displaying resource statistics or message flow statistics?
• Additional checks for z/OS users